The present invention relates to a coin separating device and to a method for operating a coin separating device.
A coin separating device of this type includes a conveying device for conveying coins in a conveying direction along a conveying section from an input container and a checking device which is arranged on the conveying section for checking a coin conveyed along the conveying section.
In the case of a coin separating device of this type which is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,552 B2 or WO 2012/089 353 A1, a conveying device is provided in the form of a two-strand conveyor belt, which realizes a conveying section along which coins are conveyed in an upward direction from an input container in opposition to a gravitational force. Entrainment means, which receive coins from the input container and convey them along the conveying section, are arranged on the conveyor belt. Various devices, which are to ensure that only one single coin is conveyed at each entrainment means, are provided distributed along the conveying section. In dependence on a check on the coins, that is to say in dependence on a respective check result, the coins are conveyed into a coin separating device, objects not recognized as coins being rejected and returned to the user.
These types of coin separating devices serve for separating coins from other objects. A sorting device, which sorts coins separated by the coin separating device and directs them in sorted form into collecting containers, can be connected downstream of a coin separating device.
The separating devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,552 B2 and WO 2012/089 353 A1 each operate according to the so-called vertical separation principle. In the case of the vertical separation principle, coins are conveyed out of an input container, moved in an upward direction along a conveying section and, in dependence on a coin detection, supplied to a coin collecting device. Such coin separation devices are, as a rule, impervious to foreign bodies and can comprise a high degree of recognition accuracy. As a result of developing the conveying section in a suitable manner, where possible only coins should be conveyed along the conveying section, whilst other objects or counterfeited coins remain in the input container. In dependence on a check, checked coins and objects are then conveyed from the conveying section down into a coin collecting device for further processing of the coins or are rejected. In the case of the coin separating device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,552 B2, an electromagnetic ejector is provided, for example, for the purpose of conveying a checked coin from the conveying section into a coin collecting device.